Rain won't stop the fun in Borneo

COUNTRY: Borneo & Cambodia
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building & Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Clare O'Brien

If the last month was a gym work out it would be leg day.

The four remaining members of our Borneo group headed to Bongkud, the camp situated right next to Mt. Kinabalu. This was a major change in landscape from jungle to pretty much rolling green hills. When we arrived at camp we were greeted by Eve, our new camp manager, who told us, "Just think of me as you're older sister. I would say mother but that makes me feel too old." Despite this, she did in fact become our mother. She was always looking after us making sure we were well fed and having fun. Not only that but she would join us every dinner time and just sit with us. Chatting to her and listening to her stories made time fly by.

The reason I called this month leg day is because we had to prepare for our Mt K climb. The camp is situated right next to Bongkud hill, a hill that if you climb 8 times is the equivalent to climbing Mt K. We could not resist a hill like that and we were determined to climb it at least twice before our climb. Not only did we climb it, but when the new gappers for this month joined, they climbed it with us. They did this even though they weren't going to be climbing Mt K- that's impressive!

However, we did made one mistake. Our second time climbing was a project day. This made the day SO much more intense. The project work that we were involved in was cement mixing, and a lot of it. Even though it felt easier than Tinangol we defiantly mixed more cement. We were helping to set the foundations for a new kindergarten the community was building.

On the second week, in the afternoons two people would go back to camp and teach some of the community kids. Now this was amazing. The kids were different ages ranging from 6-12 so we had to somehow cater for them all. It wasn't a problem though the older kids acted like the translators and helped out in any way they could. Right at the end, however, we completely broke the language barrier. We played Frozen songs. Everyone was singing in perfect English- it was fantastic.

Soon enough we were set to climb the mountain. There was one problem Eve had given two of us a case of conjunctivitis and I had twisted my ankle. We were determined to not let it stop us though, and we powered right up that mountain.

I can't even describe the experience. I wish I could upload photos because honestly it was amazing, turning around and realising you were in the clouds, climbing at 2am to reach the summit and turning back to see a stream of head torches it was just an incredible experience.

Even though all this sounds like it was happening in fantastic weather this month brought rain so much so that it started raining inside our long house!

Anyway, the night before we left there was a bonfire, speeches, songs and even us singing and dancing. It was incredible and I never wanted to leave Eve, but Mantanani was our next stop.

This beautiful island was sadly only beautiful for us for two days, then it rained, every single day. And I don't mean light rain, this is the crazy thunder and lightning storms we get back home. The thunder was so loud it had the chief cowering in our dinning room. You couldn't dampen Aida's enthusiasm though. Every chance we got we were out doing project work and then having to sprint back to camp when it started raining.

We did get to finish the toilet blocks but due to the amount of rain on our last few days the pipes burst and sadly destroyed a lot of the hard work we had put in.

Whenever the weather was calm though we were either in the sea, playing volleyball or touring round the island with Aida. I even got a private sunrise walk (mainly because no one else wanted to get up at 5 in the morning). It was beautiful, we walked our way out to the tip of the island and even though it was cloudy the sky still turned some amazing colours.

I think the most fun I had on that island was the last two days, well three considering we got stuck on the island an extra day. There was a bit of unrest on the island so four of our nine decided to leave the island two days early, but that's when the fun began. We got cooking lessons with Aida and walked over to the other side of the island where we saved some birds and saw some awesome starfish. Not only that but we were smashed in scrabble by the chief and Aida, people who speak English as a second language! It seemed like the others just left at the wrong time. Our supposed last night was fantastic, we had this massive BBQ, but because it was raining we had it out of a wheelbarrow inside our eating area. We then chilled with Aida, played cards and just had a great night.

We woke up to weather that ensured we'd be stuck on the island for one more day. We then had a roller-coaster boat ride out the next day. And our two months in Borneo were up, just like that.

Time has absolutely flown by, the places have been fantastic, however it's the people that have made the biggest impact on me. Eve and Aida have inspired me. Eve's story of having to build her camp in a month, have the most stressful time of her life and not giving up, to work through that and come into the most amazing job of her life. And Aida who when I made the comment "there's just so many different things I want to do" replied "why can't you." and then had the most amazing stories to tell.

It's sad leaving them all behind but we're onto the next leg of our adventure now. Four of us are heading off into Cambodia, for what I'm sure will continue to be a fantastic journey!